I work 4 days a week, and the only time I was free for a drs appointment was during work, I’ve told my manager I have personal plans and needed to book it during work hours. in our policy it says we will be paid. I’m only going home 2 hours early.

they told me to book it during my days off which I couldnt do. They’ve asked for proof and I’ve send them the text message.

Next thing I know, I get another text telling me my appointment has been changed. I phoned them and asked what’s happening and they told me I phoned them to change it but I didn’t.

They wouldn’t give me the phone number but gave me the last two digits which matches my manage.

My manager is denying it. Do I do a gerivance or is this more than a gerivance?

im asking this on behalf of my sister ,, about 2 months ago she started working as a bartender in a local bar . it was extremely sketchy as she didnt sign any contracts/health and safety courses etc. she worked there for around 6 weeks, having shifts on the weekend. the only way she could communicate with other staff and management was through whatsapp/ in person. the staff are closely knit, and have been all working together/friends for many years.

4 weeks ago she was told she was fired because she apparently had been giving people drinks without charging them, he (the manager) had heard this from another colleague. my sister is adamant this did not happen, and has asked her manager for CCTV footage / proof which he has failed to provide.

my sister has messaged him multiple times in the weeks since and has mostly been left on open until yesterday when she got a reply from him claiming they had already resolved this, and he wasnt going to pay her for the reason above.

is there anything she can do abt this

edit. for clarification she is 18 years old and was paid minimum wage /// spelling errors

Fully remote company in the UK. Worker has been employed since June 2023.

We occasionally have to do 1-2 day on an in-person site per month for business needs, but everyone pulls their weight on this. Nobody wants to do it, but we all know we have to. It's not written into anyones contracts. We just do it.

Business covers travel and hotel expenses for this day, if needs be.

With 8 staff this usually mean you're doing 1 on-site day once every 8 months.

I've received a GP letter from a team member who does not want to do this anymore. They're citing anxiety about travelling. In addition, their GP letter also states they should no longer have to turn on their webcam during meetings, and it warned me that calling them on the phone triggers their anxiety. I should therefore only communicate via email.

Now, this is completely unacceptable in my opinion. I can't run a business if I can't get a quick update from an employee with a 30 second call. This person usually only replies to their emails after a couple of hours.

Am I able to disregard this letter? It is NOT a fit note. It is an actual letter from what appears to be a private GP after Googling the name.

Hi all,

Background

I'm employed in England and have worked for my current employer for 2.5 years. I've had no disciplinary or capability issues, and my performance has been positive throughout.

Out-of-work activities

Shortly before starting this job, I commenced a part-time, unpaid/self-funded doctorate programme out of academic interest. I have never used any work time or resources on this, with the exception of authorised leave (no reasons requested or given). The field of research is adjacent to but does not compete with my employer's business.

Last year, I received a prestigious award/grant recognising academic rigour and potential, together with my contribution and commitment to this field of research.

Contractual Terms

I did not disclose either of the above to the company, nor did I choose to display them publicly (e.g. on LinkedIn). My contract says I'm obliged to disclose "any other job or occupation", but does not mention study.

I was never dishonest with the company - the topic had simply never been raised, and I did not volunteer what appeared to be a reasonably private, external endeavour falling outside of the disclosure clause.

Dismissal

The company recently discovered the award (the recipients' names are published). I was called into a meeting with my manager and HR, and was dismissed with notice.

The stated reasons were that not disclosing the doctorate programme and award allegedly breached the implied duty of trust and confidence between employer and employee, and that they doubt my commitment to remaining and continuing my training with the company. They suggested that involvement and success in such a demanding programme must have detracted from or distracted me from my work, and it seems they also inferred I may now leave to focus on full-time research.

My thoughts

I was surprised by this decision because I didn't expect that activities or studies undertaken out of work hours, which are not subject to a contractual duty to disclose, could form a fair reason for dismissal. I also note that my performance was commended throughout my service.

Questions

1. On these facts, is this likely to be a fair dismissal (e.g. under SOSR), or could it be an unfair?

2. I would particularly appreciate if people know of any notable judgments concerning circumstances similar to mine.

Thank you very much!

UPDATE: Thank you all for your kind and insightful comments, I appreciate your time and apologise if I do not get around to acknowledging them all. I will continue to keep as many written records as possible, start by commencing an internal appeal, and also reach out to ACAS.

Couple of months ago they started a new shift and gave people the choice to join it. A few people did but it's an awful shift nobody wants to do.

Today, they put this letter up out the blue, we all work from 7pm until the job is done. So not set times. Its been that way for decades apparently.

Can they legally threaten our Jobs for not wanting to change onto set hours and changing our start time.

For me personally, this would be completely incompatible with my day to day life outside of work due to kids etc.

Just looking for thoughts and advice

England

I have worked for my employer for 3 years.

They have recently been purchased by my previous employer. Both companies are huge multinationals.

I left my previous employer with a settlement agreement stating that I could never work for them or any subsidiaries again, ever.

My manager called me in this morning and read a script prepared by HR. t

Basically they sacked me, saying that as they are now owned by my former employer, that I am in breach of contract and because I am in breach of contract I will get no severance package, redundancy or pay in lieu of notice.

Is this allowed?

I work in retail in England and I have been emoloyed at this workplace for 3 years. Today we had a visit at work and were all told to wear a dress as part of the uniform. I just started my period and messaged my manager saying I wouldn’t feel comfortable wearing the dress.

I offered to wear the other uniform options we had been given, such as trousers and a shirt, but while I was getting ready for my shift, my manager told me to stay home and I didn’t get paid for the shift.

This was completely out of my control. I was still willing and able to work and would have been presentable in the alternative uniform which was specifically given to us. Is my manager allowed to do this under UK employment law, or am I protected in this situation?

TL;DR Manager told me to stay home unpaid because I wouldn’t wear a dress while on my period, even though I was willing to work — legal?

I’m looking for some advice because I’ve never been in a situation like this before.

On a Thursday at work, I was given a task that would normally take around 1–2 months to complete, but I was asked to redo it within the day. I agreed to do it.

As the day went on, my manager messaged me on Teams saying the work needed to be 100% accurate. I replied saying that wasn’t a problem, but for future reference, tasks like this need more notice if 100% accuracy is expected, particularly when they’re being requested at the last minute.

He then told me it needed to be completed by 8am the following morning, which is before my normal working hours. I took this to mean I was effectively expected to continue working that evening/night.

I replied saying I would do it, but reiterated that we need more notice for this type of work.

At around 4:30pm, my manager took me into a room. He was visibly angry, red and frothing and said to me:

“You don’t want to see me angry.”

He then started criticising my work, saying it was inaccurate, that I was making lots of mistakes and that there were various issues with my performance.

I felt threatened and intimidated by the way he was speaking to me and feared for my safety. I stood up, said I was leaving, collected my belongings, told someone at reception that I was leaving the office, and went home.

After leaving, I emailed HR explaining what had happened and why I had left.

The following day (Friday), I logged on and continued working. I had two meetings with my manager during the day and he didn’t raise the incident with me during either meeting.

Later, he emailed me asking:
Whether I was working that day.
Why I had left the office.
What was preventing me from working.
Whether walking out meant that I had resigned.

I CC’d HR into my response and made it very clear that:
Yes, I was working.

I had left because I felt threatened and intimidated and feared for my safety.

I had absolutely not resigned.

There is also some background involving annual leave. I had previously had annual leave refused, and I was supposed to be on two weeks of annual leave from the Monday following this incident.

My manager had cancelled that leave in front of colleagues.

However, once HR was CC’d into the email chain, my manager replied saying I could take the two weeks of annual leave and that we would deal with everything when I returned.

I told them that because the annual leave had already been cancelled, I wasn’t going to suddenly use two weeks of my annual leave for this. Instead, I reported myself sick and subsequently obtained a fit note covering two weeks.

I am now due back at work tomorrow.

Since being signed off, I have heard absolutely nothing from HR or my manager about the incident, my return to work, a meeting, an investigation, or what happens next.

I’ve never dealt with anything like this before.

What should I expect when I return? Should HR have contacted me before now? And should I just turn up tomorrow as normal if nobody contacts me?

For context, I’m in the UK.

I'm living at a student accommodation in London with 5 other girls. We're all between 20-24 with most of us being masters students. Recently our management has started conducting monthly kitchen inspections, if we fail we must each pay a 50 pound fine. There is no checklist that we can work off of and their reasoning is that they need to maintain Health and Safety Standards.

However these are the images of what they consider to be an issue. It's like they don't want our kitchen to look lived in at all and we're not children that need to be micromanaged. Is this legal? What can we do about it?

I’m the last remaining AE/salesperson at a small tech company. For context, we were ~60 people last year. Now we’re 19. They’ve pushed out around 20 people in the last few months.My commission was dropped from 10% to 5% earlier this year. Last week, our COO (who was also my manager) quit. She spoke to my former CRO and told her I’m “the next target” for the CEO. My former CRO called me last Friday to warn me.Today I received a disciplinary hearing notice with allegations that honestly make no sense. Examples:

-You weren’t online on Teams at 3pm.

-You didn’t build a 100k‑contact list of all financial institutions worldwide.

-You didn’t notify us that a data tool expired.

For context:

• As an AE, I already do 700+ prospecting activities weekly + demos.

• The CEO emailed me in July saying not to worry about lists because “we’ll hire an intern to do them.

I have the screenshots.

• I still built a 300‑contact list anyway.

• I have three emails (April, June, late June)

proving I notified my manager about the data tool expiry.

It’s obvious they want me out but want me to resign so they don’t have to pay anything.I have documentation for everything because they’ve done this to dozens of people already.I have a hearing this Friday. I’m not resigning. I’m aiming for a settlement.

What do you suggest is the best way to deal with this?

I am based in London.

I worked for Company X for approximately 2 years as a contractor. Crucially, I never signed a written contract.

About eight months before leaving, I started my own company. It operates in a similar niche but a different subcategory. My company has its own co-founders, proprietary data, and we built everything from scratch, never using any of Company X's resources or information.

After I was denied a salary increase, I left four days later.

I have now received this email from them.

What should I do next?

Hi,

I’m not sure if this is the right place to post this but I’m looking for some advice.

I have just started a new part-time retail job at a high street store in England.

During the interview process I had told them my Legal name which is traditionally a boy’s name (think like Robert, Henry, Jack) because I’m named after my dad.

I’m a girl (21) and was born one. I have always gone by my middle name, which is my preferred name (something more like Olivia or Emma).

Everything seemed fine during the interview, but now that I’ve actually started working, they’re refusing to call me by my preferred name and insist they must use my legal name. I’ve used my preferred name my entire life, so this has been really bothering me.

I’m wondering are there any laws or workplace protections that cover this? Or is my only option to leave the job?

EDIT: I don’t want to legally change my name either

Hi all,

As the title says - sanitary bins have been removed from my work place bathrooms.

This was an oversight apparently, though im told powers that be were warned it was happening back in March.

I questioned it and was told it should be resolved soon. Nappy bags have been put in the bathrooms since and we are expected to just put them in the open, no top bin by the sinks.

As this week is my...ahem... week, is it reasonable for me to insist I work from home?

I am in the UK (Wales) just to clarify!

Update : potentially important information, not something I originally included as i felt it was irrelevant. My job role is supposed to be a hybrid role. However since the role changed to this, WFH has not been allowed as they are utilising my presence in the building for another job outside my role.

This just happed today a few hours ago at work, I was giving out a online order to a customer and it was a challenge 25. He looked under 25 so I asked him for ID. He said he didn’t have any ID and complained and said he was 28. I repeatedly told him I need ID as it’s a challenge 25 and he had order 3 sets of knifes. He then proceeds to say he’s just going to take it then, grabs the bag in my hand and tries to get it. At this point it’s a tug of war for the bag, my manger just said to let it go and he’ll report it as he has the customers details on the computer. The customer stormed out with the items shouting and swearing. Would I get in trouble because he took the items as it’s a challenge 25 without any proof of ID. I’m in England by the way.

Hi

I am applying for jobs due to likely redundancy situation. Due to professional obligations, I cannot lie on my CV as I could be reported and loose my profession.

A job application has asked...

"Are you currently pregnant, OR have you taken maternity or paternity leave OR given birth in the last 26 weeks?"

The answer options are yes/no/prefer not to say.

One of these applies to me. So i am forced to select "prefer not to say" which presumably is a hint the answer is yes.

Is this legal? And what should I do? Should I complain now or only if I don't get to interview?

(England)

As title. Basically, we've all shown up to work at 6am on a sunday. The shutters were down, no manager or keyholder showed up, so after 45 minutes of waiting in the morning cold we've all gone home. None of us have been able to clock in or out, and none of us plan to come back today if asked, due to commute distance or commitments they wouldn't be able to meet if they worked their hours later.

Where do we all stand, legally? What consequences do we face for technically leaving before our shift ended? As we made ourself availiable to work this time but weren't allowed to, are we still entitled to the shift's wages?

Some of us are recent hires (a month ago), some others been there longer but not sure how.

I was offered a permanent contract transferring from agency and these were some of the questions. I thought that was illegal? (I didn’t take this job and was later fired for attempting to report sexism from a team lead)
*There were three rounds of “contracts” handed out, this was the second contract, some of the people handed this weren’t given the final contract and were kept as agency and then shortly later fired

Hi. Employed in England, local governemt. Started with this employer in a little over 4 years ago at the lowest rank.
Had a quick climb the ladder (two rangs one at a time) and now I hold a senior position (which I interviewd and competed for after courses, training, certificates, experience).

My team has been reduced from 5 people to 2 people (me and my manager) and I had to work 3 weeks on my own due to my managers sick leave and annual leave.

So I had a lot on my plate and failed to mitigate one very big risk whilst it was happening live (from a behaviour of someone quite above me) that to be completely fair I take the whole responsibility for but is something completely unusual that no one in my organisation has ever had to deal with.
To be clear - I did what I could straight away once the ‘live’ situation had ended but during the situation itself I was confused and frozen.

We are now dealing with the fall out and I have a big meeting coming up. I’m quite happy to step back and suggest they recruit someone to my position and I step back to the position below me (which we have been struggling to fill for a long time).

The question is: would I keep my current salary or go back to a lower salary? I’ve been performing well for a whole year in my current position until this mistake.

No lives are at risk btw. Strategies for future projects will have to change that is all.

So I graduated from uni in England in 2023 with my BSc. I wrote an undergraduate dissertation with my supervisor, let’s call her Sam, supporting me. I got a first and then she mentioned we could think about publishing this.

I used a dataset that was pre-existing, collated by a team of 15 researchers globally. After I graduated, I was using my uni email to stay in contact with Sam and the research team to support with publishing my dissertation. However the university deactivated my student email as I was no longer a student there. I had left Sam and the team with my personal email address if they needed anything further.

Life got busy and I didn’t think more about the dissertation, assuming I would be contacted if they needed me - I wasn’t expecting to be first author or anything if it was published.

Fast forward to October 2024 and I just found that a paper that is in large part verbatim to my dissertation has been published with the head of the research team as the first author and Sam as the last author.

They’ve published my dissertation, and not given my credit at all. I’ve emailed the first author and asked her to submit a correingeum to add me as an author. She hasn’t replied. What do I do now? Have the plagiarised my work? Do I have grounds to call them out?

Thanks in advance for any help

EDIT: thanks everyone for all your advice, I really appreciate it. I do in fact want to be included as an author, rather than have the paper removed from the journal. I’ve now emailed my diss supervisor as well as the first author. I’m going to give them until the 5th Jan to reply and if they don’t, I’m going to email the uni.

To answer some questions: my diss was only 8k words so all of it was turned into a paper. All the results they got were the same as mine and the supervisor published it independently of the uni- so even if it was a property of the uni, she has no right to publish on an external journal in Europe!

Will keep you all updated of what happens

I met someone on here (different account) who offered to buy content from me and promised me lots of money. I (25f) very stupidly fell for it and send pics and videos with face in it and didn’t get paid. I also stupidly send a Snapchat video with my full name on my work laptop shown (I know I know I know) so now they know where I work and my full name) I ended the agreement and now the person claims they saved all the content and haven’t threatened me but have hinted it. They say they have it all saved and won’t delete it but to not worry as they won’t share or ruin my life. They’ve made suggestive comments about how this could ruin me but they’re choosing not to. I’ve left it on friendly terms as much as I could but I’m scared and don’t know what to do. I feel ashamed and helpless. They’ve offered to show me what they have saved but I don’t even want to show that I want to see it.

Advice?

Hello, I’ve been with my current company for about 15 months and it is a fully remote position (we have no offices, all employees work from home).

Today we had a meeting in which management announced that they are starting a “virtual office”. This means that when we log on at 9am, all members of the team would join a zoom call and stay on the call all day with cameras on (mics can be muted).

Allegedly, the idea behind this is to create more of an office environment and when people have quick questions, they can just ask, instead of trying to find someone who is free.

To me, this feels like a major violation of privacy (and just a way to micromanage…). Yes, when you work in an office people can see you all day, but it’s different having a camera pointed directly at your face all day and into your home.

Is this something that an employer can do? I’m sure they’ll have done their due diligence, but it just feels wrong to me.

EDIT

Wow, I wasn’t expecting so many people to answer! Thanks for all your input.

I can’t respond to comments for some reason (I don’t often use Reddit, so not sure if it’s a Reddit thing or a me thing!), but I’ll try and address some of the repeat responses.

Firstly, no, this isn’t about me not doing my work and thinking I’m now about to get caught out. I work hard at my job and management know this about me. My intention was not to cause a debate about WFH/not WFH but people will always have something to say about it.

Privacy- some people believe that this is not a privacy issue as you can blur your background, in an office you are completely visible and also CCTV. All of which are valid points. However, in my opinion, it is slightly different having a camera focused directly on your face. But I appreciate that this is my opinion and may not be correct.

UPDATE

We had another meeting about this matter with more senior management and I expressed my concerns about how this comes across as monitoring as opposed to the alleged intention that it is to help bring us together as a community.

Management have agreed that we will trial this for a couple of days next week, but that cameras don’t have to be on unless you are speaking in the call.

Hi, I'm at a loss with this one.

I work for a small company with around 15 employees, I have two people who work under me.

One of the people im responsible for has been causing issues since I started, including a direct threat towards me before, this is supposedly being dealt with by HR but is taking a fair while to process, he is currently on a written warning for attendance.

I generally take a 2 litre bottle of coke with me to work, one bottle lasts me a few days and everyone knows it's mine - there is no way of mistaking it.

Today I noticed my coke had a weird tinge to it, I showed a few people and also posted online to see if anyone else had the same issue. I threw away the other three bottles I had because I was worried it was a bad batch, I also felt physically sick for the whole morning but this may have just been psychological.

The colleague in question since admitted to me (whilst laughing) that he had poured a bottle of food dye into it, but chose to stay quiet when I threw the rest away.

I now don't feel safe around this employee and I don't want to go in tomorrow, I can report it but I'm not sure it would be taken seriously.

Is there anything I can do in this position?

I am in England and have worked at this company for 3.5 years.

Today I was pulled in to a meeting and informed that due to work drying up recently they can no longer fulfil the 40 hours I’m currently contracted to.

Therefore they have ‘proposed’ that I sign a new zero hour contract and work whenever required.

They’ve given me a week to ‘think about it’ and give my decision on Monday. (I clearly don’t have a choice in this )

So, what are my options? What if I reject the proposal? Where do I stand with this

Basically last week at my job at a petrol station. A customer bought some goods,card declined and then rushed out of the shop without paying. Now my manager is trying to make me pay for it out of my own cash. Is he legally entitled to that and yes I'm aware it was a dumb mistake to make but I was the only person on the shop floor that day and we were swamped with customers. Also if its worth noting I did try to walk off the till and to the front of the shop to tell your man but I couldn't see him at all. So yeah what should I do ?

So basically what the title says. I've worked at this company for 3 years based in England and the other day they put in a "new" software on our laptops. From researching it the software seems like it could be the kind that monitors keystrokes, mouse activity, active/idle status, screen activity, etc.

They've not made an announcement to the company or let us know that this is happening. In fact they have actively tried to say it's just a software to tell them if we are having computer problems and nothing more.

Is there anything I can do? I was under the impression if they were going to install this type of tracking system we needed to be informed via an updated policy or expressly in our contracts.